Chapter 2

For the umpteenth time Sister Andrews paced back and forth in her rooms. None of this bad sense no matter how much she rolled it around in her head. According to the reports she'd heard Sister Kaur had hung herself using part of her robe. But Sister Andrews could think of no indication that Sister Kaur was feeling in the least bit suicidal. In fact the only thing that seemed to have stopped Sister Kaur in her tracts was this whole thing about the file folder.

'Argh, why didn't you tell me what you saw?' Sister Andrews thought angrily about hat day in the Archives.

***

Sister Andres didn't so much hear the crash but felt the vibration through the floor. She couldn't quite say exactly where the crash come from but knew but knew it was somewhere behind her. sister Andrews turned sharply and headed to towards the direction of the crash. It seemed to come from right at the back of the archives where friend where friend are sister Kaur had been working. She turned at the last of the large storage shelves and saw her friend sprawled on the ground with files and folders all over and around her.

"What's going on here?" One of the Archivists said as she came round the corner. "What's all this mess?" She added her tone getting harsher with each word.

"Nothing, I was just overarching for something and it all came down," Sister Andrews lied and was almost glad that the Archivist couldn't see the guilty little smile her had involuntarily given under her veil.

"Well you two just make sure you tidy it all up and that everything is back in its proper place," she said in a less harsh tone. "Oh and make sure you use the steps next time," she added peering passed the two girls and seeing a set of steps resting against the shelves. She then disappeared back to wherever she had come from when she seemed to have satisfied herself that no physical harm had been done. At least visibly anyway.

"She could have at least asked how I was , these files weigh a ton," Sister Kaur quipped as Sister Andrews offered her a hand to help up off the floor. She then dusted down her robes and stretched her body as if testing for broken bones or other injuries.

"You'd have thought they would have given us more practical clothes to wear down here," she added when she saw Sister Andrews looking her up and down, almost quizzically. "I must have stepped on the bottom of the damn thing," she added tugging at her robes to pull the bottom off the ground and out of her feet.

"Yes, well I think they are supposed to be a reminder of our behaviour," Sister Andrews said in a deliberately hushed tone and as she helped the other woman dust herself down.

"Because we are the very example of improper behaviour, aren't we@ Getting up to no good way back here," Sister Andrews couldn't see it but she just knew friend was smiling wickedly behind her veil. "Youi don't need to hang around and help," Sister Kaur whispered. "I'm sure you have more than enough to do yourself," she added when Sister Andrews didn't move.

"Faith manages," Sister Andrews said as a play on her name and the answer she had always gotten at the seminary when she had sked about how she would accomplish a seemingly difficult task.

"Ok, let's see what we've got here then," Sister Kaur said starting to pick up the papers that had been strewn across the floor. She tried to organise the papers in piles where they seemed to be related to each other so that they could perhaps later be able to file them in the right file. After watching Sister Kaur for a few minutes Sister Andrews started picking up pieces of paper. Out of sheer curiosity, she couldn't help reading the odd document.

"Well would you believe it!" Sister Andrews exclaimed after a few minutes of staring at one such document.

"There's a note here in the minutes of Sanhedrin meeting about a Lord Chamberlain who'd been found in a err 'compromising position' with his secretary," she added after seeing the other woman loo up at her questioningly.

"Really?" She asked taking the document from Sister Andrews and scanning over it. "It seems she was neither his wife or a concubine," Sister Kaur added trying to work out what had happened to the man. "Oh, officially it was decided to strike the incident from the record after the Lord Chamberlain had accepted what he had done was inappropriate," she smiled mischievously.

"What is it?" Sister Andrews asked grabbing the document back from her friend when she saw the twinkle in her eye.

"Well its seems as though they were only discovered because someone heard a purring sound and thought a cat or something had gotten into the Chamber between sittings," she had to all but bite down on her tongue to stop herself from laughing out loud. Such gayety in the Archives was strictly forbidden.

"Each to their own I suppose," Sister Andrews looking back over the document in case here was anything else of interest, but most of the rest of the minutes seemed to be about rather mundane day to day running of the Sanhedrin and maintenance of the Chamber. "Yes well, we'd better get this lost sorted and filed away before questions are asked," Sister Andrews said regaining her composure. No sooner than she had said it than Sister Kaur was carefully slotting papers back into file folders and stacking them in what Sister Andrews assumed was the right order.

"How do know where everything goes?" She asked suddenly concerned that they were getting everything back in the right place.

"Well, I'm going by a combination of subject, date of the document, apparent age and hoping now one actually checks afterwards," she said trying to sound more nonchalant and confident than she felt. As Sister Kaur spoke she turned over another few pieces of paper and added them to a nearby folder. "I'm rather hoping that no one actually comes down this way again for very long time," she added stacking the files in an appropriate order. "I don't suppose you could start putting them back on the shelves?" Sister Kaur said looking up at Sister Andrews who was turning over a document in her hands not sure where it belonged.

"Ok, where should I start?" She asked.

"Those files there," Sister Kaur pointed at the end most pile, "need to go on first."

"Ok," Sister Andrews said as she stepped around Sister Kaur to get to the pile she was pointing at and started to lift them back onto the shelves it what seemed to be the right order.

"Most of these seem to be from the 14th or 15th centuries," she started to say as she flicked through the contents of a file that had fallen with the others. "Except for this one which seems to be far more recent," she added looking at the dates.

"How recent? Is that really a bad thing?" Sister Andrews asked in quick succession.

"Last few years, maybe more recently," she replied only half listening to her friend. "Something here about a mining company, err Intrepid Depths Corporation, losing their rights to a planet called Myria or something," Sister Kaur's forehead started to furrow as the full implications of what she was reading started to sink.

"As a result some guy called Nathan Taite is being allowed the purchase the rights at a reduced price," Sister Kaur read from a memo she had spotted from about five years prior. "It seems to be an adjudication between 2 disputing parties and is signed by High Priestess Longton," she added.

"She must have been the adjudicator then," Sister Andrews said after taking only a momentary break from re-shelving files. "What was the dispute?" She then asked casually.

"Err Intrepid Depths Corporation wanted full price for their rights and this Nathan Taite only wanted to pay a quarter," she said starting to get a little intrigued. "There was report stating that the ore deposits were getting too low to commercially be viable, but the company disagreed. The High Priestess agreed with the report and ruled the rights were only worth a third of the full commercial price," she added.

"So isn't that how this things go? I mean one party says I want full price the other says it's no way worth that and offers rock bottom, knowing that the adjudicator would come down at least half way between the 2?" Sister Andrews asked as she climbed down the steps and stood in front of the concentrating Sister Kaur. "Yes but an official from the company claims the ore deposits are higher than the report says," she looked confused.

"Yeah well he would say that to try to keep the price up," Sister Andrews said when she saw the quizzical look in the other woman's eyes. "What's the name of the official?" She asked more out of concern for Sister Kaur than any actual interest.

"Davith Ysaac," she said having to look again at the first page of the adjudication.

"That's odd," Sister Kaur said cutting Sister Andrews off before she had chance to saying anything. "It's says here in another adjudication that we agree with Nathan Taite's request to be made heir to the House of Vetchai, not heir to the Imperial Throne due to objections from the Emperor," and suddenly a dark shadow fell over Sister Kaur's face.

"So, the Faith as long been ask to adjudicate in matters of succession," Sister Andrews said putting the last of the files away. "What's the reason given?" She asked looking around to make sure there were no more files lying around.

"Something about Nathan Taite being the son of an unofficial concubine," Sister Kaur replied and her eyes darted around as if she was trying to work out what to do or to see if there was anyone around.

"Oh," Sister Andrews said.

"Faith, whose the current Mother Superior?" Sister Kaur asked quietly.

"Err Mother Superior Cleave?" Sister Andrews replied confused.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Sister Kaur said hesitating for a moment and then pushing the file back into the box where it had come from, then putting it back onto the shelves, just slightly hidden from plain sight. "We'd better get out of here," she said nervously. "I mean it's got to be almost lunch time," she added before Sister Andrews could anything.

***

"Oh shit," Sister Andrews mouthed under her veil as it suddenly dawned on her what Sister Kaur must've seen.